Emotional Ennui & Everyday Action

Weekly Forecast for 1/30

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What do you do when you’re looking for a feeling? The Four of Cups sees us starting the week with a nagging sensation that something’s missing. We’re yearning for something in the realm of the cups suit - love, connection, spirituality, or intuition - but we're not sure how to articulate it just yet. In situations like these, challenging feelings can be important guides; pay attention to where you’re yearning, pining, lonesome, or bored. What happens when you just sit with these experiences, much like the figure in the Four of Cups?

Depending on your situation and personality, this can range from a tolerable experience to something torturous. But the Four of Cups gives us the opportunity to really feel through our present moment so that we can embrace the opportunity that’s just right for us when it arises. Rushing through, in contrast, can lead us to add more to our lives mindlessly, causing us to miss out on important realizations about who we really are.

So, as the week begins, make plenty of room for reflection, both as a mindfulness practice you engage with continually (inviting yourself, for example, to just observe your feelings and let them flow through you instead of rushing to judgment) and in the form of designated chunks of time: an evening meditation, a solitary walk, or time with your journal. It’ll also be important to ground yourself in what is working in your life so that you’re aware of how anything new will either add or detract from it. What is supporting you, giving your life meaning and a sense of emotional fulfillment? What might these things have to say about who you are and your ability to craft a life for yourself?

An intriguing part of this reading is that, buried in what seems like an emotional or relational problem, there is a crucial insight into our practical, everyday lives. The King of Pentacles comes into the reading midweek, suggesting that our emotional yearning may be masking some actionable changes we’ve been mulling over for quite some time. Is it more comfortable to feel emotionally dissatisfied than tapped into the power and responsibility of shaping your life?

I don’t say this to be judgmental; it seems as if there are important insights in both cards, and maybe the confusion is part of the process. Yet the power of the King of Pentacles emerging at the center of our reading points to some sort of blockage in our energy. Re-casting ourselves as the protagonist in our lives and then acting from this place of power will help move things forward in unexpected ways, both emotionally and practically.

Stepping into our personal authority and ability to make change will be both refreshing and a little overwhelming; on the other side of this card is the fast-moving Eight of Wands. So if we feel bored as the week starts, we may be looking back at that experience wistfully as things really get going around the weekend. Yet The King of Pentacles is holding down the fort for us throughout; we get to make our own choices, and what’s more grounding than that?

Potential surprise/reframe:

I’m really drawn to the King of Pentacles in this reading. The Four of Cups is all about waiting - feeling things out, digesting our emotions, and practicing receptivity in the hopes that we’ll be better able to accept an important gift when it arrives. In contrast, this week’s King is “the King of making a life for oneself.” How can making/shaping/adding to our lives in a prosaic, pentacles-y way remove some pressure from our experience of the Four of Cups?

If we’re feeling stuck in the world of emotion, it will be helpful to double-down on what we can do in the physical and everyday. Make changes, plan out your finances, see where you can streamline your routines and even enjoy your life a little more. Doing so may help clear any blocked channels that are keeping us small and dissatisfied in other areas.

This week, embrace:

• Sitting with your feelings

• Focusing on emotional balance

• Taking responsibility for your daily life, career, or physical health

• Acting when things feel aligned and are gaining momentum

This week, avoid:

• Seeking affirmation or attention to compensate or fill a void

• Hiding from your true feelings

• Downplaying your skills

• Stopping yourself from committing to action out of fear